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Sistine Chapel Choir makes rare visit to United States

Mark Pattison | Catholic News Service

Members of the Sistine Chapel Choir, under the direction of Msgr. Massimo Palombella, perform at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Sept. 20. CNS photo/Dana Rene Bowler, The Catholic University of America

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Msgr. Massimo Palombella, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, speaks during a workshop on sacred music at The Catholic University of America in Washington Sept. 20. CNS photo/Dana Rene Bowler, The Catholic University of America

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WASHINGTON — The Sistine Chapel Choir came to Washington Sept. 20
on a rare U.S. visit. Its stops included Detroit and New York as well as The
Catholic University of America, where it gave a concert and presented a
workshop.

 

The choir resembles the choir of the Early Renaissance period of
500 years ago in that it features all males, including about 30 boys, to sing
the soprano and alto parts that were written with their vocal timbre in mind.

The choir is directed by an Italian Salesian priest,  Msgr. Massimo Palombella, whose first name
and clerical honorific are usually ignored in favor of “Maestro.”

Appointed in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, the priest’s commission
was renewed in 2015 by Pope Francis.

In a Sept. 20 interview, Msgr. Palombella, ordained in 1997, said
that as the choir conductor, he gets to “dig roots” into the earliest
years of the choir.

Speaking in heavily accented English and having a reporter’s
questions interpreted into Italian by the choir’s first-ever British member,
Msgr. Palombella said the Vatican archives retain the music written years ago for the choir, with arrangements intended for the boys who populated
the choir. Back then, there were no liturgical roles for
women; even the actors performing Shakespeare’s works at the Globe Theater in
London were all men.

Today’s members do not have the grinding schedule that the choir —
organized in its current form in 1471 — once had. It used to sing virtually
every Sunday. Although it rehearses for three hours a day, the choir sings at
Christmas and Easter Masses at the Sistine Chapel, and at about 20 other Masses
and liturgical functions there, as well as concerts there and elsewhere, such
as the September U.S. trip. The choir also makes recordings annually for the
Deutsche Grammophon label and made its first-ever recording inside the Sistine
Chapel.

While the choir may be getting back to its roots, one obvious
innovation has taken place. Instead of juggling sheaves of music and turning
pages with one hand while trying to conduct with the other, Msgr. Palombella
uses a tablet and does a simple swipe-left to change the page.

Conducting the choir and selecting the repertoire is only half of
Msgr. Palombella’s job. The other half is writing music. His charge, he said,
is to combine both liturgical demands with the influences of contemporary
composers to produce fresh material for the choir to complement its historic
repertoire.

A Catholic University spokesman said the Sistine choir had
visited the school before, but it was at least 30 years ago.

For the workshop, Catholic University music students were invited
to attend, as were the music directors of nearby parishes, the spokesman said.

Fourteen Sistine Chapel Choir members at the workshop
demonstrated some of the group’s repertoire from composers such as Palestrina.
All the choir members were adults; one was 22 years old, while others had more
than 22 years of experience in the choir. Two introduced themselves as having
served two stints in the choir, first as boys and now as adults.

During the workshop, Msgr. Palombella said a direct line of
continuity from the Early Renaissance to today cannot be drawn by the choir,
even though it has been in existence for half a millennium, due to the use some
centuries ago of “castrati” — boys who had their testicles removed
before puberty so their singing voices would not slide into deeper ranges as
they grew older.

Introduced into the Sistine choir about 1620, the castrati had
all but displaced boys by 1650 and remained in vogue for about two centuries,
according to Msgr. Palombella, noting the last castrato performed at the
Vatican in the early 20th century, after which time Pope Pius X forbade their
use.

 

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